investigators say romeer's 22- year-old son joseph hid his father's body in a box and hid it in a yard in vallejo. >> my sister got to her car and could smell it from far off. that's a good 40, 50 feet away that she could smell it. >> the cause of romer's death is under investigation. joseph romer and his girlfriend are accused of hiding the body and cashing thousands of dollars worth of pension checks. a large brawl in a sacramento mall sent shoppers running for the doors. reporter lonnie rivera shows us what shoppers saw and heard when the fight broke out and why many thought something worse was happening. [ screaming ] >> reporter: panic crossed the mall as shoppers ran from the

chaos that began at the food court. >> terrifying. scariest moment of my life. >> reporter: police say it started when a fistfight got out of control drawing in at least 20 juveniles. >> he swung on one of the dudes and they started fighting and all the groups started fighting. >> reporter: gabby miller says even after police and mall security jumped in some of the teens kept fighting. >> police caught three of them and then they all came towards the pretzel place and did it again. >> reporter: several people inside the mall heard gunshots. >> we heard it. >> reporter: most shoppers were trying to get away while store employees tried to understand what was happening. >> something similar to gunshots. we don't know if it was gunshots but it sounded like shots. >> reporter: police now say they have ruled out any gunfire. they believe the sounds of large signs falling over may have led people to report shots fired. >> you start thinking the worst thing acan possibly happen like

i just imagine someone with a gun or someone coming into the store and threatening us. >> we hid behind the counter at macy's and then i was finally like we need to get out of here. i'm not about to get shot. >> i called my mom to talk to her in case. >> reporter: even after it was all over and the mall reopened it was hard for many to catch their breath. >> you never know what can happen at any time. >> mall security says four people involved in the fight were arrested. surveillance cameras captured how powerful the christmas day tornado in mobile, alabama was. this was the scene outside a local walgreens. you can see sparks flying from power lines an transformers as that twister moves through and then cars are literally tossed around like they're nothing. people had to run to the back of the store to take cover there. thankfully though nobody was injured. >> i have never been in a war zone but i'm sure that's what it looks like. there's a bunch of tin, all the stuff lifted off the buildings

just laying down in the parking lot. >> national weather service says the tornado that hit mobile was an ef-2. lower on the scale but still had winds up to 135 miles an hour. that twister was part of a larger storm system that moved through the south and the midwest yesterday that caused blizzard-like conditions in a number of states. drivers had to deal with white- out conditions. this is indianapolis here. indiana pacers postponed their game against the bulls because of bad weather. more than 1700 flights canceled. the storm is moving into new england. >> they are dealing with snow. we were dealing with rain. but we get a break. we have kind of boring weather day out there. >> that's why you get to do both. [ laughter ] >> exactly, yeah. boring in traffic, too. not much going on that way, either. if you like dry weather and like to do some traveling or

shopping, got some holiday returns, today would be a good day to do it. temperatures right now 48 in san francisco, mid-40s in oakland and a little cool, however in fairfield, 39 degrees there. so this high pressure is in place for now. that's what's keeping us on the dry side. but we are watching that low. it is quickly heading towards the bay area bringing us a good chance of rain as early as tomorrow afternoon. once again these highs by later on this afternoon similar to yesterday low to mid-50s. 53 vallej. 55 redwood city. 51 pacifica. over the next several days a quick dry break because friday into saturday once again things unsettled and then it looks like we are in for a nice dry stretch sunday straight through new year's day before once again a chance of rain comes on wednesday. let's show you what's going on on the roads. a lot of folks have the week off. this is a live look in the

dublin interchange 16 minutes the drive time between the altamont pass and the dublin interchange. elsewhere to our maps, they just did some lane changes across the golden gate bridge so now more lanes are open towards san francisco doyle drive. looking good across the span. 880 and 237, so far traffic moving at the limit. we are hoping for later volume once again today. this is a live look at 880 heading toward oakland airport. no delay from the maze all the way down towards hayward. and the south bay these are all live drive time sensors the guadalupe parkway 280, so far, so good. and once again mass transit on a normal weekday schedule today and no delays. that is traffic and weather. back to you guys. >> thank you. we are following some breaking news right now in walnut creek. we're hearing reports of an officer-involved shooting. firefighters were called to the 1400 block of creekside drive just about 90 minutes ago. we don't have any details on whether anyone was injured. police are saying no officers were hurt and no suspects are at large. we have a crew heading to the scene right now.

we'll give you details as we get them. it is 5:06. president obama flew back to washington from hawaii overnight to work on the plan to avoid the "fiscal cliff." cbs reporter tara mergener says congress remains gridlocked and fewer americans expect any progress before the new year. reporter: senators and staffers will be filling these empty hallways today trying to work out a deal to avoid the "fiscal cliff." higher taxes will give the average american about $1,500 less to spend next year. and economists believe the $110 billion spending cuts will result in more layoffs. senator harry reid has a plan to keep taxes low for everyone making less than $250,000 a year as well as short term spending cuts until a bigger dooley can be reached. >> it is going to be a patch because in four days we can't solve everything. >> reporter: while senators try to brave the bad weather that has hit many parts of the country, in order to make it

back here to washington, house leaders say they will not leave home unless the senate passes its bill first. >> good morning? >> reporter: house republicans scuttled the proposal from speaker john boehner last week and 48% of americans say they are to blame if no deal is reached. >> both sides here have a problem with the american people and it's why congress has 11% job approval rating. >> reporter: republican pollster frank lund says americans are fed up with gridlock in washington. >> there is no compromise and i think that's going to grow as a concern among the public into 2013. >> reporter: even starbucks is urging both sides to compromise. its employees are writing "come together" on coffee cups in d.c. tara mergener cbs 5. a majority of americans are satisfied with the job the obama administration is doing

right now. that's the finding of a cnn poll. 52% approve the president's jo performance. 54% feel vice president joe biden is handling his job well. first lady michelle obama has the highest approval rating at 73%. 5:09. coming up, this school gets our approval rating. ♪ [ music ] they are pretty good there. how they're teaching students with special needs how to find power in music. >> plus, a big rockslide leaves a mess for caltrans workers in big sur. how long it's going to take to clean up all those rocks and much. more when we come back.

caltrans is still removing e rocks and making road repai after now i'm stuck on this side of the rockslide. i can't get home. and i can't get to work where i'm meant to be in the next couple of hours. >> caltrans is still removing large rocks and making road repairs after a slide on highway 1 just a few miles south of big sur. >> the slide happened on sunday and since then a section has been completely closed. that's forced people who live or work in the area to make lengthy detours. today one lane will open temporarily at 3 different times at 8 a.m., noon and 4:00 this afternoon. >> if you are going to get

stuck, big sur is not a bad place to hang out. >> but you don't want to be stuck in all that. >> she has her track shoes on and she is not doing weather, she is doing traffic. >> that's right. we are in the traffic center now. we are moving all over the place this morning. and we'll take you out -- this is what it looks like on the roads. quiet so far this morning. a lot of folks have this entire week off because it is christmas week. so this is what it looks like at the pay gates approaching the bay bridge toll plaza. they never turned the metering lights on yesterday. we'll see if that's the case today. but so far things are looking good pointing towards that direction. elsewhere, overnight roadwork including three lanes of eastbound 380 shut down on the approach to the carquinez bridge. no delay westbound by the way. and they just wrapped up some roadwork on the dumbarton bridge. so now all lanes are open westbound and eastbound 84. the golden gate bridge so far moving at the limit. no delay. milpitas drive moving fine. no major traffic hot spots out there right now. so we'll show you one more live

look the nimitz 880 in oakland past the coliseum. headlights moving southbound and it's dry. so yeah, this is our quick dry break. let's talk about this weather forecast. we have some weathe headlines. not bad, no need for an umbrella, temperatures in the 40s for the most part. we have cloud cover some areas of patchy fog reported inland. for the most part, the afternoon is going to be similar to what we saw yesterday cooler temperatures in the low to mid-50s and then the showers return as soon as tomorrow. so this dry break is brief. a low pressure system off the coast is quickly heading towards the bay area and we're thinking friday afternoon. that's when we'll see our first raindrops when things remain unsettled through saturday. northern california, heading towards tahoe, there are chain requirements on highway 50 but no requirements on interstate 80. so this would be a good day to

head up towards the mountains. high 30 degrees there. 51 in sacramento with areas of patchy fog reported. closer to home around the bay area once again these are those temperatures. 54 in sunnyvale. 52 in milpitas. so a lot of 50s to go around. 50-degree readings in brentwood, antioch, very similar to what we saw yesterday. low to mid-50s definitely jacket weather but once again no need for an umbrella. we haven't been able to say that in a while. 54 degrees in berkeley 52. in san rafael. and 55 in santa rosa. here's your forecast. over the next several days, dry today, wet again tomorrow, and then into saturday. sunday through new year's day, right now looks dry. and then things once again look unsettled by the middle of next week. that is a check of traffic and weather. back to you guys. >> thank you. breaking news in walnut creek a shooting involving a police officer there. firefighters were called to the 1400 block of creekside drive about an hour and a half ago. we do not have any details yet

on whether anyone was injured. police are now saying though that no officers were hurt and no suspects are at large at this time. we have a crew heading to the scene right now. we'll bring you the latest as soon as we get more information. an early learning center in fremont is dedicated to helping children and parents cope with challenges. most students there have a disability but could have great ability if given the chance to find it. this week's "cool school" helps students discover what that is. ♪ [ music ] >> reporter: the early learning center in fremont is rocking. ♪ [ music ] >> reporter: a little holiday music even a little jack chabolla. the band, the dream achievers, are real achievers overcoming the biggest challenges. ♪ [ music ] >> saxophonist lawrence was only 3 when he was diagnosed

with autism. he couldn't handle loud noise even music. but he discovered his talent learning how to play by ear. >> it was just a huge miracle and blessing to our family. >> reporter: all four band members were once students at glink ler, a school for special needs. >> we work on basic skills for other children because it comes naturally. >> reporter: the school serves 2 to 5-year-olds identifying each child's needs. >> we are able to adjust and grow with the kids according to their needs. the kids don't fit our program. we need to fit what their needs are. >> at my elementary school i used to bang on the desks and all that but never knew i would get out of that. >> reporter: chris eventually found his power in music. gregory the band's guitarist couldn't speak when he was a student here. but now -- >> i love playing that guitar. >> reporter: what do you love about it?

>> it's the greatest instrument i have ever done and played in the entire world! >> reporter: the alum of my return to entertain spreading joy this holiday season. at the same time, giving children here and their parents hope for successful futures. >> never give up hope on your child with special needs. you never know when the kids will unleash all their abilities and power. ♪ [ music ] >> they are amazing musicians. >> i guess. music is the great escape and sometimes it just opens up all kinds of avenues for people. >> right. >> lawrence came up to me and said, when he's your birthday? he asked the year and right away told me my age. >> i bet you loved that. >> no. [ laughter ] >> not really but they were amazing to hang out with that afternoon. so what's cool about your school in submit your nomination on our website, cbssf.com/coolschool and we may come and feature school right

here on the show. >> you know, there's no problem being 28. i remember 28. >> oh, yeah. i love you. you became my best friend today. >> that was my gift to her. [ laughter ] >> it's 5:18. coming up, san jose state heads to the military bowl. >> they do. and you don't want to miss this trick. the half time show stunt that left even the performer a little baffled. coming up. >> the roads are for the most part clear great day to ski in the sierra. these are current conditions: football team... the spartans take on bowling >> we'll have much more on your seven-day forecast coming up. ,, ,,,, ,, share everything.

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good morning. chilly outside now, mostly cloudy, dry start. we are seeing some patchy fog in the valleys with temperatures in the 40s. traffic doing nicely. this is three of our traffic cameras for you. we just checked in with chp and there are no big incidents out there at a right now. golden gate, bay bridge and the dublin-pleasanton cams moving at the limit. much more traffic and weather coming up. 5:22 now. big day for san jose state's

football team. the spartans play the military bowl in washington, d.c. at noon our time. san jose state finished the regular season ranked number 24 in the country. defensive coordinator kent baer will head the team since the regular season coach mike macintyre has left for colorado. the spartans hope for the first 11-win season since 1940. the 9ers are sending nine players to the pro bowl six from the defense and three from offense. sack master aldon smith makes his first appearance on offense. frank gore the franchise all time leader rusher this year will make his fourth career pro bowl. raiders players by the way were left out of the pro bowl for the first time since 2003. >> how many broncos? >> uhm, i think five. >> okay. i knew she would know that. [ laughter ] nobody in the nba is getting excited to see the warriors come to town these days. they are road warriors in a big way. the latest victims the utah jazz. stephen curry scored golden

state's first 11 points in the game. he finished with 23 and the warriors got their 11th road win 94-83 against utah in salt lake. that's all they won on the road all of last year. this team is hot. your play of the day keeps us in the nba. we have knicks and suns. one second to go. the score is tied at 97. jason kidd inbounds to j.r. smith who will take an off balance jump shot in the corner. was it good? >> catch and shoot in it goes -- oh, he did it, j.r. smith! j.r. smith wins it at the buzzer! unbelievable! >> it's good. knicks get the win 99-97 and j.r. smith gets our play of the day. take a look at this. another play that could have easily been the play of the day. this is halftime show at the hornets-magic game last night. take a look.

this woman performed the midcourt on a unicycle. and watch, she puts the stackable from her foot to her head. >> i think she's a pro. she knows what she's doing. >> that's amazing! >> awesome! impressive. >> that is the play of the day! >> no kidding. 5:25. teetering off the "fiscal cliff." can a deal be reached by the new year? >> plus, an explosive discovery in oakland. what one man found while cleaning out his basement. you won't believe it. >> and breaking news out of the east bay. an officer-involved shooting has roads blocked in one neighborhood and we're just moments away from a police update. ,,,,,,

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[ male announcer ] now u-verse high speed internet has more speed options, reliability and ways to connect. rethink possible. what happened? me and jason came back with drinks and all 20 nuggets were gone. we got nugged. there was a nugging. this guy just came running up... dip! dip! dip! shoveling 'em into his face! give me your nuggets- -we're like "no! save some for our boyfriends!" need more nuggets? jack's crispy, all-white meat chicken nuggets come with a choice of seven awesome sauces. an order of 20 is only $4.99 we should probably call the cops.

i'll just get you more nuggets. no, thanks, i'm stuffed. holiday havoc. the northeast gets pounded by s sleet and

we're live in walnut creek where an investigation continues into an officer- involved shooting. we'll bring you the latest. >> holiday havoc. the northeast is pounded by snow, sleet and rain. how it's impacting travel nationwide. and we got dry skies a great day to do some holiday shopping or do any traveling. the low pressure system heading our way bringing rain showers by the end of the week. the morning commute off to a nice start crossing the san mateo. we'll have much more traffic and weather coming up. good morning. it's thursday, december 27. good to have you with us. i'm frank mallicoat. >> i'm michelle griego. time now just about 5:30. we're following some breaking news right now in walnut creek. a shooting involving police. >> authorities are about to hold a press conference to give us some more details. cbs 5 reporter cate caugiran is in walnut creek police headquarters and has the latest. >> good morning. we are just waiting for police to come out.

they are expected to give us the full update on what happened but we have video from the scene earlier if you take a look now. that shooting happened near 1450 creekside drive. no officers in injured. no suspects are outstanding. plus police won't tell us if anyone was involved, injured or hurt. we don't know the circumstances of how this happened. we know that this happened near the area of las low mass high school. that's the little information that we have. we are trying to piece together what happened how this happened. we in that it's happened around 3:15 this morning. again, we are waiting for police to come out. we are expected to come out and get an update in a few moments and we will bring the latest once we have it. live in walnut creek, cate caugiran, cbs 5. several brentwood homes remain evacuated this morning as pg&e crews search for the stores of a gas leak. pg&e crews were called out to allbrook drive around 6 p.m. when residents in the neighborhood reported a gas

smell. they smelled elevated levels of natural gas near an underground transformer but the exact source of the leak is still under investigation. a woman accused of killing a tourist in san francisco apparently wanted to be a cop. 23-year-old gina eunice was arraigned yesterday. she hasn't entered a plea. she was arrested thursday night near twin peaks after allegedly hitting four members of a family from china and then leaving the scene. one of the victims later died at the hospital. >> gina and the entire eunice family is chronically destroyed by what happened and i think it's fair to say that their main concern is for the yao family. >> bail is set at $2 million. she will be back in court on new year's eve this monday. her lawyer says she was about to graduate from college with hopes of becoming a police officer. a terrible stench was the first claw that somebody was dead in a vallejo neighborhood. two people are under arrest in

connection with a body found in the backyard of a home on warren avenue. the body of 56-year-old richmond romer of alameda was badly decomposed. he has been dead for two years. romer's 22-year-old son joseph romer is accused of hiding his father's body in relative's backyard. the body was found earlier this month. >> my sister had walked over there and got about to where the red car is and she is like, wow. i mean, she could smell it from that far off. so that's a good 40, 50 feet away that she could smell it. >> the cause of death is under investigation. joseph romer and his girlfriend are accused of hiding the body and cashing thousands of dollars of pension checks. getting a check on other bay area headlines the search is on for suspects in a gang- related shooting in south san jose last night. it happened shortly before 9:00 in the area of serenade and

lullaby drive. officers say the suspect started an altercation with the victim, shot him and took off. the bomb squad helped deal with an explosive situation in oakland yesterday. a man cleaning out his basement found more than 5 pounds of dynamite inside. he called the police and the alameda bomb squad showed up to remove the tnt. officials say the explosives actually date back to world war ii. the rain may be gone for a day or two at least. but saturated hillsides can still pose a big danger in the bay area. you don't have to look far to see the signs all over the area. plenty of small landslides like this one at palomares roads or another by morrison canyon road, which is closed due to the on landslide danger. but today will be dry. we have a little bit of a break, right? >> we do. it's looking like partly to mostly cloudy skies right there. a little bit of patchy valley fog but not much to speak of. it's kind of a quiet weather day. we haven't been able to say

that in a while. so temperatures out the door right now not too bad. it's because of the cloud cover. it's obviously cold but temperatures mainly in the 40s. 47 in san rafael, 48 in san francisco, and 41 degrees right now in livermore. so it's because of this high pressure it is in place for now but check this out. there is a low just off the coast and it's going to bring us rain as soon as tomorrow afternoon. so dry break is not going to last long. this would be the day to do any travel towards the sierra, do any holiday shopping, get any returns because the dry weather once again stick around through this afternoon the 54 in oakland 52. in concord. and 52 degrees in san rafael. so coming up we'll get a check of your seven-day forecast. in the meantime we want to show you the roads. here's a live look at the bay bridge toll plaza. the metering lights have not been turned on and, you know, yesterday they never had to turn them on at all so maybe we might see a repeat of that today. quickly i want to mention this. it's a little out of the way, a tree on a big rig on 80 so

temporarily blocking lanes. it is blocking midway right there by interstate 80. the main lines of the freeway are actually not impacted. golden gate bridge, things moving well in all directionses across the span. and 880 and 237 pretty quiet so far for your milpitas ride and for silicon valley commuters heading towards san jose. we'll get a check of mass transit. in the meantime back to you guys. >> thank you. caltrans is continuing work to fix a coastal road that was hit with a rockslide. the rocks came down on highway 1 on sunday a few miles south of big sur and since then, a section has been closed. that forced people who live or work in the area to make lengthy detours. >> now i'm stuck on this side of the rockslide. i can't get home. and i can't get to work where i'm meant to be in the next couple of hours. >> today one lane will open temporarily at 3 different times. 8 a.m., noon and 4 p.m. caltrans says this part of

highway 1 took 17 years to build. so the agency is focused on improving it rather than making costly upgrades to alternate routes. the holiday vacation is over early for members of the united states senate and for president obama, as well. he took the red eye from his vacation in hawaii back to d.c. overnight. senators will be busy work on a plan to hopefully avoid the "fiscal cliff" today. but house gop leaders say they will not return to washington unless the senate passes a bill. with no deal on the horizon a new poll finds the gop gets the biggest share of the blame for the big stalemate. >> both sides have a problem with the american people and it's why congress has 11% job approval rating. >> even starbucks is getting itchy for an agreement. its employees are now writing "come together" on coffee cups sold in its d.c. stores to encourage compromise. hopefully they will get something done. hawaii's lieutenant

governor brian maass will brian schotts will take the place of deceased senator daniel inouye. he wanted a woman to replace him, and she made it to the final round of consideration but didn't win the nomination. former president george h.w. bush is in intensive care with fever and cough. he was admitted more than a month ago with bronchitis. he was moved to the icu sunday. a family spokesman says the 88- year-old is alert joking with doctors but had yet to respond to fever-reducing medicine. so we wish him well. hope he gets better soon. >> he parachuted on his 85th birthday. if anyone can do it -- >> forgot about that. >> -- he can. remember the mystery of the runaway priuses? now toyota decides to make a deal. >> travel trouble out there. how this powerful winter storm is impacting flights across the united states.

>> and ever get that sinking feeling? well, what could have caused this massive hole in china? ,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,

it developed yesterday aften when a section of road collapsed. it take a look at a giant sinkhole at an intersection in northern china developed

yesterday afternoon when a section of the road collapsed. it's about 16 feet deep and 50 feet wide. it's huge! more than 40 trucks and excavators worked on the scene overnight. it's possible the collapsed area was an abandoned air raid shelter but the exact cause is under investigation. pretty interesting there. >> a little work to do. >> no kidding. a lot of work. stock futures are high they are morning with wall street set to open in about 45 minutes. >> erica ferrari at cbsmoneywatch.com is in new york this morning with the latest on business. good morning. >> reporter: good morning. drab holiday sales and investor concerns over the looming "fiscal cliff" pushed stocks down for a third consecutive day. the dow lost 24 points thursday. the nasdaq fell 22. asian stocks are higher this morning after china's industrial companies showed profits. tokyo's nikkei gained 1% to finish at a 21-month high. hong kong's hang seng rose half a percent. president obama returns to washington for one final effort

to avert the so-called "fiscal cliff." with just five days left until the deadline and no sign of a compromise, congressional leaders are urging the senate to consider a bill that's already passed in the house that would extend existing tax cuts. the us treasury department says it will start taking steps to postpone the government from hitting the $16.4 trillion debt limit the money the government can spend to finance its operations. toyota will pay the biggest sum of money ever recorded for a car defect. the proposed $1 billion settlement will resolve a class action lawsuit for hundreds of toyota owners who claim unintended acceleration problems caused numerous crashes, injuries and even some deaths. and chicago wins the dubious award of having the nation's most expensive metered parking. starting on new year's day parking meters in downtown

chicago will cost $6.50 an hour up from $5.75. the city leased the meters to a private company for 75 years for the bargain price of more than $1 billion. >> thank you, erica ferrari, cbsmoneywatch.com. >> i love san francisco even more now. you have to have a credit card. that's almost a roll of quarters. >> i just discovered parking cards. if you are heading out doing any traveling on the roads this morning, so far actually things look pretty good outside. we have a nice quiet weather day shaping up. yeah. so a nice dry break. put away the umbrellas for at least a day. it's going to be cold though. bundle up. partly cloudy skies because the showers are returning as soon as tomorrow afternoon. we can show it all to you in our satellite and radar. that high is in place for now but we have this low right there just off the coast and by friday afternoon, this is what we're thinking right now, we are going to get hit with more

rain. not quite as much as we saw at christmas day and yesterday. but still, it's going to get wet friday into saturday. if you are doing any traveling, this is a good day to do it. no delays expected at sfo. high of 53 degrees. again, expecting partly cloudy skies. across the country, it's kind of a different story getting a little dicey in denver, snow there, new york, houston, seeing some rain showers, delays are still very likely across the country if you are heading home after the holidays. pinpoint forecast for later on today seeing a lot of 50s, low it mid-50s for the most part.52 in fremont. 54 los altos. east bay numbers similar story, antioch and brentwood chilly in the 50s. low 50s in pleasant hill and walnut creek. 54 in berkeley and alameda. over the next several days, here's the forecast. dry break for today and then unsettled weather returns

friday afternoon into saturday. drying out for now sunday through new year's day so if you have any new year's eve plans shouldn't be bad to hit the town. wednesday things wet again. the rain showers return. so check the roads all across the bay area, we have a couple of new fender-benders right now westbound 580 approaching 680 the dublin interchange. i cannot see it in this traffic camera, but apparently it was cleared right to the right shoulder right in this area where our camera is so a little bottleneck in the area, maybe the drive time picked up a few minutes because of an accident that's mostly a visual distraction at this point. elsewhere another accident reported eastbound 24 right before the caldecott tunnel. that's as you make your way out of oakland heading towards orinda. no delays or drive times because there's not as many cars on the road. a lot of people have this weak after christmas off. the nimitz 880 in oakland towards the oakland airport no delay. and similar story through milpitas, mass transit by the way so far all on time and on a regular weekday schedule.

that is traffic and weather. back to you guys >> thank you. a powerful winter storm that caused blizzard-like conditions in the midwest is now heading to the northeast. as ed payne shows us, that's strappedded travelers all across the -- that has stranded travelers all across the country. >> reporter: airports are packed people trying to get somewhere. more than 1700 flights were canceled wednesday and today might not be much better with snow, freezing rain and strong winds battering the northeast. it's causing a domino effect across the country. a pilot on a flight sitting for hours in dallas waiting to depart for las vegas told passengers this: >> pilot: it's beyond reproach. i have no -- no words to tell you how sorry i am for all of this. >> reporter: passengers it in atlanta are trying to keep their cool as they wait for word on their flights. >> you can't change it. so you take it for what it is and make the best of a bad situation. >> the best thing is to think about the purpose of the trip

so that you're not so upset. >> reporter: getting around on the ground isn't any easier. motorists in indianapolis had to deal with white-out conditions. the indiana pacers postponed their game against the chicago bulls because of the severe weather in indianapolis. the dangerous conditions in carmel, north of indianapolis, didn't stop this motorist. >> they are slick in spots. the overpasses are icy. >> reporter: the white christmas in little rock, arkansas was a record-breaker. the nine inches of snow that fell on christmas day broke an 86-year-old record. i'm ed payne reporting. >> that storm system also caused a tornado that struck mobile, alabama. check out this surveillance video from a walgreens store. you can see sparks from power lines and transformers. the twister moved a car and a pickup truck around. people to run to the back of the store take cover. take a look at this guy like i'm out of here! thankfully, no one was seriously injured. >> i have never been in a war

zone but i'm sure this is what it looks like. there's a bunch of tin all this stuff lifted off the buildings, way down the parking lot, broken glass everywhere. >> the national weather service says the tornado that hit mobile was an ef-2 lower on the scale but still with winds up to 135 miles an hour. powerful. >> still scary. people ran for their lives when some violence broke out at a sacramento shopping center. a lot of people thought there were shots being fired but police say they ruled that out and the sounds may have come from large signs hitting the floor. a fight broke out at the food court at the arden fair mall. >> they started fighting and all the groups jumped in. >> we hid behind the jewelry counter at macy's and then i was finally like we need to get out of here. i'm not about to get shot. >> four people were finally arrested after the fight and shoppers returned to the mall. the debate over gun cell

has moved to one of privacy over protection after a new york newspaper published a map of potential gun owners' homes. the new york journal news got the data by timing freedom of information requests. the maps don't show whether the residents actually own guns, just that they are legally able to. san francisco district attorney george gascon says it's an unfortunate circumstance. >> the question whether people that are actually registering the guns and are following all the rules, they are law-abiding citizens and they should be protected. >> the new york journal news is standing behind the project. the paper also pointed out it published a similar list in 2006. the gun buy-back program right here in the bay area is proving to be a big hit. and in l.a., city officials moved up the date of their annual buy back program following the newtown school shooting. handguns and rifles are good for $100 grocery gift cards. automatic weapons get $200. but even those turning guns in

didn't think it would make a big change. >> they think might is right so that's just how it's always been. so something i don't think you can unlearn in a short time. >> l.a. police say they have taken back more than 8,000 weapons over the last three years. critics say most of those weapons, however, turned in at these events are either old or broken and wouldn't be used in a crime anyway. meanwhile the connecticut town that was the site of that recent mass shooting is asking people to stop sending gifts for the time being. officials in newtown say they have more items than they can handle including flowers, teddy bears and a lot of signs there. they say they have warehouses full of gifts that they need to process now. united way fund to help the town now has reached $3.5 million. a lot of givers out there. it is 5:50 now. preventing bullying. the simple act that you can teach your kids. >> plus her christmas wish came true. how police nabbed the grinch who stole this puppy. ,, ,,,,,,,,,,,,,,

bundle up. it is cold outside. we have temperatures in the 40s now. 42 in santa rosa and 41 in livermore. 41 in concord. we have a nice dry day setting up all across the bay area. and this is what it looks like on the roads. golden gate, bay bridge and san mateo bridge all moving at the limit. we are hearing about closures on the great highway. we'll tell you more about that coming up. kindness may be the key to prevent bullying. a new study of 9- to 11-year- olds found children who performed acts of kindness like sharing lunch reported increased feelings of happiness. classmates were also more likely to choose them to work

on school projects. researchers say the more a child has acceptance from his peers, the less likely he will be bullied. a little girl and her mother are reunited with their puppy after a man stole a cavalier king charles spaniel on christmas eve. surveillance video caught the dognapping outside a grocery store right here in new york city. you see him take him away. on christmas day, tina cohen says she saw a man trying to sell that puppy on the street. she bought the dog, then called the cops who arrested brandon bacon in connection with this theft right here. >> i said that's not right and i said i'd like to buy the dog and i only have $100. he's like it's my friend's dog. and i want to -- he wants more money for this dog. >> well, she got the dog and look at the little guy. cohen found the owners because the dog had a microchip and as you can see, the owner is mighty happy to get it back. >> and the little girl, too. >> so cute. look at the dog's pretty happy.

>> it's important that microchip comes in handy. >> it does. obviously. it is 5:54. the next half hour, cautiously optimistic. the latest on former president george h.w. bush's recovery in a houston hospital. >> plus, shopping mall horror. what caused a massive aquarium to explode in china. >> we're live in walnut creek where officers here wrapped up a shooting regarding an officer- involved shooting. we'll bring you the latest from the scene in a few moments. ,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,

>> >> your realtime captioner: linda marie macdonald. breaking news out of walnut creek. a suspect is dead after an officer-involved shooting. we'll bring the latest in the investigation. >> holiday havoc. the northeast gets pounded by snow, sleet and rain. how it's impacting travel nationwide. >> and you can put away those

umbrellas. grab a jacket. it's a little cold outside but, yeah, we got dry weather for now. when the rain is returning, we'll let you know coming up. if you are traveling in san francisco, great highway shut down because of drifting sand. much more traffic and weather coming up. and good morning, everyone. it's thursday, december 27th. i'm frank mallicoat. >> i'm:michelle griego. time now is 6:00. we're following breaking news right now in walnut creek. police open fire and kill a suspect. >> cbs 5 reporter cate caugiran is at police headquarters where a press conference wrapped up a short time ago and she has new details. >> reporter: officers weren't able to give us too much information. we know this investigation is still on going and the scene is secure. here's a timeline of the events. at 3:19 this morning walnut creek officer say they got reports of shots fired near 1450 creekside drive about 10 minutes later officers getting a 911 call. they say all they heard was screaming on the line.

they don't know who put in the phone call but here's what they are able to confirm at this point. >> and there is one suspect that is deceased. i will not release his name as of yet nor any other details. the scene is secure. and we are not looking for any outstanding suspects. >> reporter: at this point we don't know the circumstances around the shooting or how many shots were fired. no officers were hurt. this is the first officer involved shooting this year in walnut creek. what we're told right now is that at the scene, officers are processing the area, continuing their investigation looking for and now this will be a joint investigation between the d.a.'s office and police. we're expecting also another update at 6:30. cate caugiran, cbs 5. the search is on for suspects in a gang-related shooting in south san jose last night shortly before